Final Fantasy XIII: Eternal Hearts
by Amynic
Summary: With chaos being unleashed among Academia and the world and timeline still being messed up, the gang faces an entirely different battle than ever expected when the dead is risen by someone stronger than a Fal Cie. Will Lightning and the gang conquer evil once again and save the new Cocoon, or will Caius stay one step ahead and proclaim himself a new God?
1. The Chaos of a Goddess's Heart

It has been forever since I've last written any fanfic, so I apologize if I am a bit rusty with the story. Bare with me. ^-^

I'd also like to inform you that there will be only one fan character. He wont be seen until much later, but it's just a heads up. I will be sure to include as much visual aid throughout the story as possible. I wanted the story to seem realistic, so there will be featured scenes from the actual games. Although Lightning Returns has not been released, I only used some of the information that had been given out by Square Enix. I guess it's easier to say that this is my fanfic version of Lightning Returns. ^-^;;;

_**Introduction: Before the Attack from Valhalla**_

Hope was sound asleep after he and his team of developers finished the development of the new Cocoon. He hasn't slept well in days, seeing as though he was determined to get his project done and start a brand new life. It was a long shot, Bhunivelze. A new Cocoon? Who would have thought? But the doubt in his goals did not stop him from trying, and his mindset had brought him to this very moment.

He had been dreaming during his slumber. All of his memories merged, especially after thinking so much about Fang and Vanille's return to a whole new world. It was then he dreamt back to his conversation with Vanille on Pulse.

"Don't you remember you promised me? You promised me that we would see Gran Pulse together," she said as she held up her pinky. Hope looked down before glancing back at her. "Really? I...when did I do that?" She crossed her pinky with his before getting up. "Oh I don't know. How about another lifetime?" Hope looked down at his feet confused. "I...what does that even mean?"

He then dreamt back to the final battle against Orphan. Vanille looked around as everyone gathered around her. "You're alive!" Fang looked up. "But you can't be!" Lightning took out her gunblade. "Could be more fal'Cie smoke and mirrors." Snow looked down at Fang, whom had been really hurt. "Fang, I'm sorry."

"We made you go in alone," Lightning said. Fang got up on her feet. "Second time now, isn't it?" Vanille wiped her tears. "But, where were you?" Hope took out his airwing. "Somewhere cold and dark, just thinking about everything up until now. And then...and then it was like-"

"It was like-I had a glimpse of the future." Snow interupted. "Everyone was smiling and laughing." Hope then remembered the final moments before Fang and Vanille turned into crystal.

"Wishes can come true," she said as she held Fang's hands. "But not if we just wait for miracles. Miracles are what we make for ourselves, here and now." A glimpse of light and the next thing he could remember was the crystal pillar. Fang and Vanille completed their focus.

Hope dreamt of that future he saw once more, but his dream began turning into a nightmare when he saw Bhunivelze falling to the ground. There had been several faces in the dream, shooting beams of light upon the new Cocoon causing destruction upon both worlds.

_"Damn you! Damn you all to hell for doing this!"_

_"I didn't go through the trouble of helping to build this world to let you all go and take it away from me!"_

_"I stay loyal to our God's ways. For that you all shall die!"_

A loud ringing had gone off that had awoken Hope from his nightmare. He instantly shot up from bed, panting heavily and hot."What did I just-" He was terrified. "Who would want to take down Bhunivelze?" He didn't know what to think, but looking at the time, he couldn't sit around and wonder. The rising of the new Cocoon was to take place in less than an hour.

_**Hope Estheim-**_

I made my way to the Academy building after suiting up. I wasn't sure what to make of that dream, but I couldn't let it affect the project. It made me nervous, but then I remembered that Noel and Serah were fixing the timeline, and that this shining moment will turn out exactly the way my vision did during the battle with Orphan.

"How are we looking?" I asked one of my comrades. "Everything is in place. No issues to report. We launch Bhunivelze on your mark."

"Excellent." I signed onto my computer and contacted Sazh. He and Dajh were out by the pillar. "Sazh?"

"Heeeey there!" Sazh said smiling as he was piloting the aircraft. "How's it lookin'?" "Everything is all set. How is everything from your end?"

"We got Fang and Vanille! Bringin' them home!" I smiled. "Thank you." All we had to do now was wait for Noel and Serah to arrive. We were just moments away from finally going home, and I don't want them to miss this.

"Sir! The pillar is falling!"

That instantly made my heart skip a beat. We couldn't wait anymore, it was now or never. This world was rising with or without Serah and Noel, but I waited a few more seconds to see if they were about to arive before giving a signal. "Director?" I couldn't buy anymore time. "On my mark! Ready? Annnnd...LAUNCH!" After a minor earthquake, it was then the moment Bhunivelze started to rise.

I looked up into the sky and started smiling. A portal had opened and I saw Noel, Serah, and Mog arriving. I needed to see the looks on their faces when they saw the new Cocoon, so immediately I hopped onto one of the Academy aircrafts and flew over to them.

I can't believe it. They did it. We did it. We made a dream reality. Vanille was right, we DO make miracles for ourselves. Just witnessing this happen, I just couldn't keep the smile I had off my face. I haven't felt this good in so long.

"SERAH!"

Noel's scream had instantly destroyed my excitement. When I got to the scene, I saw Serah lying lifeless in his arms. "What happened?!" Noel was crying.

"The future changed...oh Serah.." Just then, Mog had collapsed, but I caught him before he had hit the ground. The sky began to turn dark. "The goddess...she is gone, kupo..." I looked at Noel, whom had been shaking as he stood up. "I...killed...the goddess?.." It was at the moment chaos had been unleashed from Valhalla. This wasn't the dream I had seen at all. This wasn't happy.

_"When the goddess is dead, the chaos of Valhalla is unleashed. The chaos has the power to warp the timeline and destroy the past."_

It was at that moment Pulse and Valhalla merged, and within those seconds, the timeline had gone off balance. I began to get lightheaded and collapsed. I wasn't ready to die. Etro, somebody, anybody...grant us a miracle to save us from our doom.

Within moments later, I awoke, but due to the warping of the timeline, I was young as when I first met Lightning and the others. As i got to my feet, I looked around. It was dark, cold, and I had been by myself. Where Noel, Serah, Mog, and Sazh went, I can't tell, but I did know I needed to figure out what we were dealing with here and see if there was any possibility of setting things right.

The Academy building had been demolished in some parts, but luckily not everything had been ruined. My computer screen was cracked and had a series of colorful pixels flashing everywhere, but with few minor adjustments I should get it back to normal. Although a dream came tumbling down, I wasn't ready to give up hope. I was going to gather as much information as I can, and hopefully find everyone and fix this. I don't know what Caius has coming next, but he doesn't know what's coming to him either.


	2. May the Chaos Be With You

Like i said, i know it will start off kind of boring, but it gets better as it goes. Also just to make sure, some of the parts of the story do share some of the facts known about Lightning Returns, however most of it is creative too. The only things I used from LR was the fact that Hope turns young, Vanille can talk to the dead, and Lightning kicks some butt. Other than that, the rest was what I imagined should be the end of the saga. If it seems identical to the gameplay story, then call me psychic. ._.

_**Lightning-**_

Years continued on before I finally awoke. Just by looking around, I knew this was all Caius's doing. Once Etro's Heart of Chaos has been destroyed, the chaos of Valhalla is released into the timeline, and it causes several paradoxes as well as both worlds to collide. As I looked around, I was almost certain that the ruins I woke up from didn't exist during my battle with Caius.

But that was only the first thing I noticed that didn't belong here. The moment I turned around, well, it was like being stuck on a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Every corner I looked, I saw floating islands surrounding the grounds upon which I stood. It was like a quarter of Pulse only managed to stay in place, but the rest however, managed to seperate and somehow defy gravity. That only meant that these islands weren't supposed to exist for maybe another hundred years or so.

I saw a long bridge that led to a city just ahead of me, and my first assumption would be that, that must be where Serah was, so I didn't need to think twice to head towards that direction. Although the sky had been in shades of blue and black, this paradox of a world didn't look all that bad, but then again, all I had seen were some islands and a city ahead of me. There was more to explore before passing judgment, and besides, nothing that Caius does is ever considered good.

I reached the city, and the streets were well populated. I'm no expert on this time travel stuff, but I can assume that half of these people didn't belong here. They were either dead in the past, or had yet to be born.

The people of this town dressed rather diverse, while those that worshipped Bhunivelze dressed in robes of white, cream, and gold, and others dressed in various uniforms or just basic every day clothing. It was like seeing humans from the past, present, and future all in one area.

The twists of the timeline didn't make sense. The floating islands, the people, I mean, if Caius was going to destroy the world, wouldn't the future cease to exist? If the chaos had the power to destroy the past, then why were some of the buildings and people from long ago living here in the present? Was this just a myth about Etro's Heart of Chaos? I knew that it would get Pulse and Valhalla to collide and change the timeline, but as far as I know, it seems to be merging the timeline all into one era.

There had been a vibration from the ground, and with a glowing flash, a Behemoth rose that sent the town's people running for their lives. It was white with glowing aqua anklets around it's ankles, and bracelets that hung from it's wrists. It's horn was silver, and it wore a gold ring on it's right ear. It took out it's horn which had revealed a blue crystal sword, and right then and there it took it's first swing at me.

Big mistake.

I whipped out my sword and cut a banner that hung above me, as i swung from that banner and attacked the beast's weak point. It sliced the banner in half, but I landed on my feet and instantly attacked. We crossed swords left from right, and just when I was ready to end this battle, it grabbed me and caused me to lose my sword.

"Let her go!"

I saw a yellow airwing flying and it hit the Behemoth's hand hard enough for it to drop me. I smiled when I saw Hope standing behind me, and when I grabbed my sword, we both teamed up and attacked. It swung it's sword to Hope, but Hope had quickly moved out of the way, and the blade of the crystal sword got stuck in the stone on the ground. This allowed me to jump onto it's arm and slice open it's neck. With one final roar of the Behemoth, I ended the battle with a stab into it's chest, and it fell over lifeless and bloody.

"Hey Light," Hope said to me as he put away his airwing. "It's been a while hasn't it?" I smiled as I made my way over to him. "Not by much," I said with a smirk. "The last time I saw you, you looked just as young as you do now." He chuckled.

"That is just what I wanted to talk to you about. Follow me, I will explain everything on the way." I put away my sword and followed. "So this was all Caius's doing," I said. He nodded.

"As you may have already figured out, once Etro died, the chaos from Valhalla was released into this world, causing many changes within the timeline." He stated. "I have some good news and bad news."

"You mean good news still exists? Ha...that's news itself." We made it to a small building where we went inside into a rather small lab area. My guess was this had been where Hope had resided when all of this happened.

"Based on what has been gathered so far, the chaos is indeed getting stronger and it's causing paradoxes within the timeline as we speak. Also, based on the strength and speed from it's destruction, I predict that the world has only thirteen days before it's completely destroyed." I shook my head as I looked at the computer.

"Damn him. I knew he was stupid, but I never thought it was serious enough to be considered a disease."

"The good news is, based on these paradoxes, there is still hope for the world to be saved. As you've noticed, the world is well populated all of a sudden, meaning all the people from the past, present, and future are living among us," He explained. "If this is possible even with the chaos warping the timeline, it only means that-"

"If the people from the past exist here, then there is still a chance a future will exist as well."

"Remember, the timeline becoming distorted has caused every existing time period to merge within this one. If the citizens from the future are here, it only means that the future still exists right? The only issue with that is figuring out a way to balance the timeline and get it back in place in order to reach that time period." He turned to me. "Serah and Noel had traveled in time to change the future, but when changing the future, it changed the past. The only way to set things right is to change the past and it'll change the future."

"But all of time gates are gone aren't they? And what about the chaos? It has the power to warp the timeline and destroy the past. How can we travel through time to the past if the past doesn't exist anymore?"

"I thought you would say that," He smiled and brought up a map of the world. "Despite it's strength, completely wiping out the past is going to take time. Why else would some of these citizens be here? If they are here, there is still time left to go back and set things right. The issue with that really is figuring out a way to send you back there to stop the events before they happen." He looked back at me.

"With something so much as going back to when Serah became a l'Cie, it would change the future to a point where none of us met. Going back too far could cause something as much as you never being born. If we can't go back in time to the past to stop all of the events from happening, then we have to treat this era as if it IS the past."

"What are you talking about?" Leave it to Hope to talk continuously and never get to the point.

"From this era, we have to create the future. The people of the future live among us. They must know the events of the 'past' that brought them to their existance. The people of the past have their own experiences and can predict the future. We can use this paradox as a way to stop the world from being destroyed. Once we stop the chaos, everything should go back to normal. The past exists, but not much of it remains. If we stop Caius in time, the people that still remain from the past will disappear, and it should restore those time periods, or what's left of those time periods, back to the way they were. The people of the future will disappear into numerous periods, because the future has infinite possibilities. We have the power to choose what happens, and our choices will get us to that period of time."

"So how do we stop the chaos?" I asked him. Hope pointed to the map. "The only person to know that, is Caius. You find Caius, you find the answer." He got up from his chair and took out a pocket clock. "This will help you keep track of time. It has a built in device that will allow me to assist you. I'll provide you with any new information that comes up my way, but I'm afraid we don't have any time to waste." He handed me the clock. I clicked the trigger and it opened up. The design of the hands were like the hands of a grandfather clock, and the numbers were written in roman numerals.

"So how do I find Caius?" I asked before putting away the clock. Hope pointed to one of the islands that surrounded Pulse.

"I've tracked the core of the chaos from this island just North from here. If this is where the chaos is coming from, it only means that Caius is there waiting. You better get going."

"You gonna be okay?" I asked him. He smiled. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. You go find Caius and save us. You have more experience at being the hero." I smiled before finding my way out.

I headed North just as he said. With only thirteen days until the end of the world, I couldn't afford to waste time. Although armageddon was nearing, my main concern was my sister.

Serah...where ever you are, don't worry. Your big sister is on the way. If I am to save the world or die trying, I will live or die with you beside me this time. This will be the last time we ever get separated. I promise.


	3. When A Hero falls, A Villain Rises

WARNING! Once three chapters are uploaded, I wont continue to update the story unless I have gotten three reviews. The reviews tell me whether or not I suck and need to stop or that you guys like it and I should keep going. After this chapter, until I get reviews, the story freezes right here. So keep that in mind. :)

_**Snow Villiers-**_

"I remember a point in time where we lived in peace before the Purge. The fireworks in Bodhum, that night I asked Serah to be my new wife, I thought once this was all over I was free to finally have the wedding and maybe by now have a family of my own. But then this Caius guy, he pushed it all back for us. He changed the timeline, and now I sit here, the last remaining l'Cie in the world.

I get it that the hero is responsible for setting things right and saving the world on end, but it seems that being the good guy took away other things I found important to me. It took away my future, the future where me and Serah were going to live happily ever after, and now, shes gone!

It seems no matter how many times we challenge fate, it will always pull one over on us. We fought to create a better future, and look where it got us! The world is about to come to an end and there's nothing we can do about it. Lightning is dead, Serah is gone, Sazh, Fang, Hope, and Vanille, who knows where the hell they are. Dead or alive it's all the same. We are all set to face the end. If this was to be our final days in time, I would have rather spent it with the people I love for Etro's sake! And fate couldn't even give me that! Why Etro?! Why anybody! Whomever is up there listening to me, after all I've done, why couldn't you allow me the chance to die around the people I loved?!

I did everything I could possibly do. I helped save the world and completed my focus. I fought to free citizens from the Purge. I saved Noel and Serah from being trapped in the Void Beyond, and arrested Alyssa just before it happened., and this is what I get?

What do you want me to do? How many times must I go through Hell and back to earn a wish? How many prayers must I make for them to be fulfilled? How many wishes upon the stars does it take to give me ONE chance to be happy? I'm not asking to live through this. I know we can't survive the end of the world, but all I ask is the chance to die happy. What does it take? I'll do anything. Just give me a sign.

I'm a l'Cie with no hope to fulfilling my focus. One hazy glimpse of the future, and you honestly expect me to fulfill that on my own? I wasn't alone when I went through this before. I had my friends. The world is ending and there is nothing I can do to change that. Is that my focus? Is this what I am to fulfill? Because if it is, I need another sign. I don't know what to do, or where to go from here. Please...help me...

The world may be ending, but I feel like I already faced the end of my world. I lost my family, my friends, hell, listening to myself rant, I even lost my dignity. What does it take? If I can't get any of that back, then what should I do for the time being? Sit here and hope for the best?" I got up and walked over a stone bridge. The bridge had been built just above the ocean, and it led to the ruins of an old chapel.

I looked down at the water and saw my reflection. I saw my face, but I couldn't even recognize who I was. This wasn't me. The real me wouldn't give up hope. The real me would figure out a way to make things right. But then again, the real me died along with everyone else. I'm just some worthless human waiting to die.

I took out my engagment necklace that I had gotten for myself and Serah that night in Bodhum. It brought tears to my eyes each time I wore it or held it in my hands, so I always kept it in my pocket where I wouldn't have to look at it. I considered getting rid of it, but I could never seem to find the strength to throw it into the ocean. It was hard to look at, but it was also the only thing I had left from the past. That, and I had this belief that Serah's spirit had latched itself onto it. I believed she was with me this whole time, yet as I grieved about the events that took place, at the same time, I still felt incomplete and empty inside.

I tried holding the necklace out to the water. I was about twenty feet high above it, and I tried convincing myself to let go. But once again, it broke me, and I was too weak to let go. I clutched the necklace in my hands and fell to my knees crying. Never have I remembered a point in time when I was this hysterical.

"SERAH! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! PLEASE MY LOVE, TAKE ME WITH YOU!" My eyes hurt because of how hard I cried. I feel so pathetic. "Why? Why did it have to come to this? God damn it, why didn't I stay with her?! Why did I have to go and leave my family and friends behind?!" My tears fell upon the necklace.

"I've attempted to kill myself so many times, but every attempt wasn't strong enough to take me away. I just want to be with everyone again. Dammit I want to be with my wife!" As I cried for a few minutes, I seemed to have lost all of my tears from my eyes, and instead of feeling sorry for myself, I felt something entirely different.

I felt angry, and I breathed rather heavily as I felt my heart pound fast and with more force than usual. After that session of grieving, I finally realized that this wasn't even my fault. It was Caius's.

I managed to get to my feet and after taking a few seconds staring at the necklace, I closed my eyes and slid it back into my pocket. Focus? Ha, we were all going to die anyway, so I guess if I sinned and killed Caius myself, Heaven or Hell wouldn't matter. Caius, you better start running, because when I get my hands on you, you won't live long enough to say 'I surrender'. I'm taking you down you son of a bitch, and no being or paradox is going to stop me.

Not gonna lie, writing this got me teary-eyed. XD Anyway, this is where the story freezes until I get about three reviews. Once I get them, I'll continue. Hope you enjoyed it! ^-^


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